"I got up this morning and got a text message from one of my son's mates in Australia and I rang one of my son's other mates who has been travelling with him and he's in a bit of shock," she said.

"He's just got to the motel from Ibiza and arrived in Barcelona and got to the motel and said to the lady I'm here to book a motel next to my mates and she said your mates have been involved in a terrorist attack, they're injured."

Fairfax is reporting that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed a woman from NSW is in hospital in a serious but stable condition.